This invention relates to a vehicle rear body structure configured to enable an increase in a volume of a fuel tank.
FIG. 10 hereof is a cross sectional view illustrating a conventional rear vehicle body structure which includes a rear floor panel 100 having a lowered rear portion (right side in the Figure), a slanted surface 101, and a spare tire resting area 103 for resting a spare tire 102 thereon. A fuel tank 104 is disposed downwardly and forwardly of the slanted surface 101. A rear floor upper cross member 105 is mounted to an upper part of the slanted surface 101.
In this arrangement, when the spare tire 102 is moved forward from the spare tire resting area by an external force exerted thereto from a rear side of the vehicle body and bumped against the slanted surface 101, the slanted surface 101 deforms by a horizontally directed pressing force of the spare tire 102 and comes close to the fuel tank 104. In order to prevent the slanted surface 101 from interfering with the fuel tank in such a case, a clearance C1 between the slanted surface 101 and the fuel tank 102 may be set to have a large value. However, such a large value of the clearance C1 results in a reduced volume of the fuel tank 102 and hence in smaller mileage.
The present invention contemplates an improvement over such a vehicle rear body structure and provides a vehicle rear body structure which limits a slanted surface from being deformed while reducing a distance between the slanted surface and a fuel tank to allow the fuel tank to have an increased volume.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle rear body structure arranged to accommodate a spare tire, which structure comprises a floor nearest to a passenger compartment, a spare tire resting floor lower in height than the nearest-to-the-compartment floor, for resting a spare tire, a slanted surface interconnecting the floors and sloped downwardly rearwardly, and a reinforcing inclined plate mounted to the slanted surface for reinforcing the same, whereby, when the spare tire is moved forward, the spare tire is guided by the reinforcing inclined plate toward an upper area of the slanted surface.
Guiding the spare tire with the reinforcing inclined plate to the slanted surface enables the spare tire to be smoothly guided to the slanted surface. Further, reinforcing the slanted surface with the reinforcing inclined plate enables deformation of the slanted surface to be limited when the spare tire is brought into abutting engagement with the slanted surface and, hence, the spare tire can be reliably moved to the upper area of the slanted surface due to inclination of the slanted surface while enabling the distance between the fuel tank and the slanted surface to be reduced. Accordingly, it is possible for the fuel tank to have an increased volume.
Preferably, a sheet-like member is disposed between the reinforcing inclined plate and the spare tire. A coefficient of friction occurring between the sheet-like member and the reinforcing inclined plate is selected to be lower than that occurring between the tire portion of the spare tire and the sheet-like member. This allows the spare tire to easily smoothly slide on the reinforcing inclined plate while it is placed on the sheet-like member.
It is desirable that a cross member is additionally provided on the nearest-to-the-compartment floor and includes a reinforcement so that deformation of the cross member, which occurs when the spare tire is brought into bumping contact with the cross member, is limited, enabling smooth movement of the spare tire without interruption by the cross member.